Shotokan Kata · Advanced (1st Kyū / Dan)
Step through all 36 movements. The whole kata stays in horse stance on a straight line, travelling via cross-steps and stamps; the direction shown is which way you work or turn your head. Use the arrows or press play, and pair the figures with the written sequence below.
Tekki Sandan takes the horse-stance fighting of Shodan and Nidan and speeds it up: its blocks flow straight into strikes with barely a beat between them, demanding precise, unbroken timing. Its defining feature is the soete — the supporting hand — which is almost always doing something: grabbing a wrist, pressing a limb, reinforcing a block, or trapping while the other hand strikes. It is the most close-quarters, grappling-flavoured of the three.
Like the whole series it descends from the old Okinawan Naihanchi, renamed Tekki (“Iron Horse”) by Gichin Funakoshi. As with Shodan, the kata mirrors itself: moves 1–16 work one side, 17–36 repeat them to the other, each half ending in a kiai.
A text reference for the whole kata. Moves 1–16 work to the right of the line; 17–36 mirror them to the left. Direction shown is along the horse-stance line.
| # | Technique | Direction / note |
|---|
JKA counts 36 with kiai on 16 & 36 (consistent across sources). Romaji naming varies slightly by lineage (uchi-otoshi/furisute, ippon-ken chambers). Unlike Shodan and Nidan, Sandan travels by cross-steps and stamps rather than the returning-wave kick.
Tekki Sandan’s vocabulary is close-range and trapping-heavy. Each links to a full breakdown in the techniques glossary.
Read Tekki Sandan as fighting a grabbing opponent at arm’s length — control, then strike, without stepping away.
One hand blocks or traps the attacking arm while the other drops a forearm strike onto it or the collarbone — receiving and damaging in one beat.
The back-arm sweep deflects a high punch and clears the line; the back-fist snaps immediately into the exposed face — a flowing block-to-strike with no pause.
The grasping block seizes a wrist or lapel and pulls the attacker in; the hook punch lands short and hard to the floating ribs as they arrive.
Sandan’s linked techniques must flow with exact rhythm — neither smeared together nor chopped into separate stops. This precise, fast connection is the whole point of the kata.
The soete must actively grab, press or reinforce — not just float near the working arm. If it isn’t doing a job, you’ve lost Sandan’s core lesson.
Travel sideways in a low, level horse stance. Rising up over the cross-steps and stamps breaks the line and the power.
As in all Tekki, power comes from a sharp hip vibration into each technique, not from the shoulders.
As a senior kata (around 1st kyū and into the dan grades), Tekki Sandan is judged on fast, precise timing through its linked combinations, an active supporting hand in every trapping and reinforcing movement, a low, unwavering horse stance held for all 36 moves, power from hip vibration, the two kiai, and a straight, controlled embusen. Requirements vary by association — confirm with your dōjō.
The illustrations on this page are study schematics — they show the shape of each move, not a real body in motion. To see Tekki Sandan performed at full speed by senior instructors, watch reference footage:
▶ Watch “Tekki Sandan” performances on YouTubeOpens a YouTube search in a new tab. Look for JKA / Japan Karate Association or established Shotokan instructor demonstrations for the most standard version of the form.
Or revisit Tekki Nidan, the earlier Tekki Shodan, or return to the kata library.